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Hate and harassment

Hate crime is defined as any incident that's seen by the victim (or any other person) as being motivated by prejudice or hate towards their actual or perceived social identity.

Social identities include:

disability

gender identity

race, ethnicity or nationality

religion, faith or belief

sexual orientation

Hate and harassment can take the form of criminal or non-criminal behaviour, and can include:

verbal abuse

threatening behaviour

damage to property

physical assault

offensive graffiti

offensive comments or images on social media or text messages

Report hate and harassment

Reporting hate and harassment will stop it happening again to you or your family, or to other people. It also sends a strong message to perpetrators, and would-be perpetrators, that this type of behaviour won't be tolerated.

By reporting every incident, no matter how minor, we can make sure that they don't turn into something much bigger. You can report an incident without giving your name, although this might make it more difficult to investigate.

If you're a victim of hate and harassment, or you witness an incident, there are several ways to report it: